Alec Falkenham (BSc’10) has come up with a different approach to removing tattoos —  one that makes use of the body’s natural healing process.

Tattoo removal is big business: more than $75 million in the U.S. alone. Typically, it involves lasers that break down the ink particles in the tattoo, which is then absorbed into the body.

Falkenham’s technology, Bisphosphonate Liposomal Tattoo Removal (BLTR), targets the macrophages that contain the pigment for removal.

“BLTR is a cream that you put on your skin,” he explains, describing how BLTR makes use of a lipid-vesicle, or liposome, that his team has created.

“Alec is a trail blazer in tattoo removal – he came to Dal’s Industry Liaison and Innovation (ILI) with an idea, tangentially related to his graduate research, that had real-life applicability,” says Andrea McCormick, manager, health and life sciences at ILI.

“His initial research has shown great results and his next stage of research will build on those results, developing his technology into a product that can eventually be brought to market.”

Read more in “”When ‘Forever’ Fades but the Ink Stays” on dal.ca/news.